And now?
by judjolie
Summary: It's an Eric and Calleigh story. Set after the last episode season 5. Chapter three finally added. Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

_And now?_

sicilybelle , you're right! It's better to add more chapters and keep the tension going. So I decided to leave the last part out and rewrite it . I hope I won't disappoint with the next chapter(s) then!!

Enjoy

Chapter One

Break, that was what Eric's heart did when he saw Jake kissing his girl. Since he got back to work Calleigh had been so much more than just a helping friend. He didn't want to believe it at first but when even Natalia remarked it, he got hope, hope that there could be something growing between him and his co-worker. Now that hope had been shattered, shattered in a thousand pieces. He couldn't describe the pain he felt, but you could see it in his eyes. Calleigh saw it. He knew she did.

At first he was going to make peace with it but after thinking about it for a while he was going to fight for her. After everything he had been through, he wasn't going to let his chance for happiness slip away that easily. He felt deep for her and he knew she felt the same way.

Knock knock.

Nervously, Eric waited on the doorstep. Finally after 2 minutes, which seemed an eternity, the door opened. "Eric" Calleigh said surprised. "What are you doing here." She took a step closer towards him, closing the door behind her. So Jake's here, Eric thought to himself, not that he was surprised. Calleigh did leave the building with him.

Eric took a deep breath and was trying to stop shaking. Before he could even say hello, Calleigh interrupted him. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" She asked concerned. She looked as she felt sorry for him and in a way she did. She felt guilty. She made him believe there was something more to their relationship than just friends. Honestly there was more, he knew it and she knew it.

"I uh I.. I'm not okay. I…" As expected he stuttered. He had been practising 'this conversation' so many times on the way over, that when he finally saw her, he could hardly say a word. But they both knew what he was doing there and what he wanted to say. So instead of saying anything he looked in her eyes intensively. They both took a deep breath knowing what was coming next. He slowly let his hand rest on her cheek. Calleigh had a hard time fighting her tears, that desperately wanted to escape from her eyes. Then it happened. Eric kissed her passionately. A kiss that seemed to last forever.

Calleigh was the first to break the kiss. "Eric" she whispered. "This..this..We …we can't…I can't." She nervously looked at the ground while shaking her head. She couldn't bring herself to took in his eyes, she knew it would break her heart even though it would break his.

Eric came closer and held her hand in his. 'I don't get it Cal. I.. I thought."

I know." She remained silent for a minute, then continued. "I'm very sorry if I mislead you. Eric, believe me.. the last thing I want in the world is to hurt you." Eric let out a small yeah, meaning too late, he was already hurt. "I'm sorry" she smiled compassionately at him and removed the tears that were slowly making their way down her face.

"Don't do this Cal. Please." But Calleigh had already turned her back towards Eric, making her way to the doorknob. Eric grabbed her arm but not in a harmful way. His hand made his way down her arm and to her hand, which he softly rubbed with his thumb.

"What are you afraid of?" Eric asked. He could hear her snobbing. She turned around. "I'm sorry Eric." Right at that time Jake opened the door to see what was keeping his 'girlfriend' from coming in. He nodded at Eric and Eric nodded back. Jake asked Cal if everything was alright, she said it was and that she would be right in. Jake went back inside, leaving the door half open. They both stood there looking at each other intensively for a moment before Eric made him strong "I'm sorry to Calleigh." He turned, walked to his car and drove away.

Once inside with her back leaning against the door Calleigh whispered Eric's name and let her tears roll freely.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two:**

Thanks for those reviews. Sorry it took me so long to update. I hope you'll like it. I'm not really sure of myself…

It was seven o' clock when Eric heard his cell phone. With his eyes hardly open, he grabbed his phone and answered it. "Delko,.. yeah okay, I'll be right there" He sat up straight, with his back against the wall, rubbed his eyes. He felt an arm on his stomach and saw a blond girl sleeping next to him. Yes it was the blond girl he picked up in a bar last night. He had seen her a few times before and she had always been flirting with him but he hadn't given her any attention before last night. So there they were, lying in bed together. "Good morning" She said in a soft sleepy voice. "Hey, look I got to go."

She nodded and pointed out where the shower was. Eric got up as fast as he could, took a shower and left for the crime scene.

He could spot the crime scene from a distance because the amount of police cars, media and spectators. "what the hell" he thought to himself. It has been a long time since he saw so much media attention at a scene he worked on. Slowly he got out of his car, he looked around and spotted Calleigh. "Hey, I was expecting wolfe." "Yeah I know but H wanted him to work on another case, you know with all the media attention."

"Right, well let's go and take a look then." Eric smiled and Calleigh smiled back at him. She felt relieved. She didn't think it would be so easy to work together after what happened but since Eric didn't make a problem, she sure as hell wouldn't make one herself. Still she felt she needed to say something so she stopped him. "Eric, About last night."

His heart skipped a beat when he felt her hand touch his body. "Don't worry about." He said uneasy and made the gesture she could go in first. Once inside they spotted Alexx on the floor, checking out the body. "What you got?"

"A young female shot in the head, her name is…" Before Alexx could finish her sentence, Eric interrupted: "Faith Summers"

Both Alexx and Calleigh looked surprisingly in Eric's direction. "What? she's an upcoming model. I saw her on the tv the other day."

"Why am I not surprised." Calleigh said in a playful tone. Eric couldn't help but to blush. "Alexx what about the bullet."

"it's a trough and through baby, can't help you." Calleigh nodded and started to look for the bullet and the casings while Eric took some snapshots down stairs. After he was finished he went upstairs.

Eric was about to wrap up when he noticed footsteps that weren't there before. He was about to turn around when someone hit him on the head with a baseball bate, knocking him completely out.

"you ready here?" Jake asked his girlfriend. ' I just need another minute. By the way have you seen Eric come down yet?" Jake shook his head, meaning no.

"That's odd. He should have been finished by now." She called out his name a few times on her way to the stairs. When he didn't answer, she went up. By the time Calleigh reached Eric he was already regaining consciousness.

'You've got to be kidding me' Eric mumbled to himself.

"oh my God." Calleigh bent down on her knees resting her hand on his shoulder "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Cal helped Eric back on his feet. "I just can't believe this" Eric mumbled again, angry with himself for getting hurt again.

"You should get that checked out."

"No I'm fine. I'm not bleeding or anything."

"Let me see" Carefully she lowered his head so she took take a close look. Eric was right there was no blood, still she wanted him to get medical attention. He could have a concussion or something worse because there were still pieces of a bullet in his brain.

"Cal, really I'm fine." They shared a moment there…

Jack came running upstairs and asked what had happened. Eric walked towards Jake and pushed him against a wall. "I thought you said it was clear… huh it was clear. Well I got news for you, it wasn't"

"Eric that's enough, let him go." but Eric still had Jake by his shirt and he wasn't planning on letting go just yet. They both looked angry at each other. This wasn't just about the intruder, this was more about Calleigh, they all knew it. Calleigh knew Jake was a jealous man but from Eric she expected something else. Something more.

" I checked everything myself." "That's supposed to make me feel better huh."

Calleigh finally succeeded in making Eric let go of Jake. "This isn't over you know." Jake yelled at Eric but Eric played the better man now by just walking away without reacting. Calleigh urged Jake to stop and shut his mouth. "You did check everything, did you Jake"

"What? Of course I did. This isn't my first day on the job you know." He shook his head and went down as well.

Calleigh knew this was going to be one of those days…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

_It took me a looooong time to upgrade this story. Sorry… I hope you'll like this chapter. I had several ideas, actually way to many!! Because I know when I started this story it had a completely different storyline but my computer crashed and I really don't remember. I completely changed it but the ending will probably be the same. Enjoy _

In pain, that was the state Eric was in, not emotional but physical pain. Maybe he should have listened to Calleigh and gone to the medics because now his head was hurting like hell and a simple aspirin didn't quit do the trick. He did still have the heavy painkillers from right after he was shot but he tried to take as less as possible. He didn't want to depend on them.

"You found anything yet?...Eric… hello" It took a few long seconds before Eric realized Natalia had asked him a question. "I'm sorry I.." Eric stuttered.  
"You were somewhere else but here" Natalia finished his sentence. Eric laughed. Even though it didn't work out between them romantically they still felt comfortable around each other. Yes she would tease him occasionally but she always meant well. Anyways Eric did find some fingerprints and DNA at the scene but it was still running trough codis (I think).  
"Oh looks like we have a match. A David Conley." Natalia looked surprised and responded with a question. "David Conley? The David Conley, the famous actor David Conley?" Eric smiled and nodded. "Wow I can't even believe he's in the system, let alone have something to do with this."  
"Apparently he was falsely accused of rape. He got out because his lawyer came up with another suspect who later confessed. Some say that Conley's lawyer paid the new suspect a lot of money in exchange for his confession. This however was never proven. Wow. Well Natalia, Care to find out Mr. famous' story ?"  
"Are you kidding me? Let's go." Eric made the gesture she could go first then followed her out.

When they arrived at David Conley's house. Again Eric let Natalia take the lead. She rang the doorbell three times before some maid opened the door. The CSI's identified themselves and were allowed to wait in the lobby while the maid would let David know he had visitors. In the meantime they could have a quick look around but at first sight nothing seemed suspicious. Of course there could be a number of reason why Mr. Conley's DNA and fingerprints were found at the crime scene. After fifteen minutes the suspect finally came to meet the CSI's. He shook their hands and asked what they were doing there and if they could hurry up because there was somewhere he needed to be.  
Eric cut right to the chase and asked the actor about his whereabouts and if he knew a girl named Faith Summers. In the beginning David denied knowing a Miss Summer but after being confronted with the evidence he quickly changed his story. He did in fact meet her one somewhere last week at a party. She invited him over for a drink and some no string attached sex. Suddenly David changed from a respected actor into a pervert. The way he talked about the victim…Natalia couldn't believe what she was hearing. Turns out David had an alibi. Apparently he picked up a prostitute on his way home from another party. He went from someone Natalia liked to someone she truly hated.  
On their way out Eric spotted the maid with some garbage bags. Just as she reached the gate she dropped something. Eric wasn't sure it was intended but the maid didn't pick it back up and when they crossed each other she looked straight in his eyes.  
"Is that what I think it is?" Eric nodded, he picked up a bloody shirt and put it in an evidence bag. While he sat on his knees Eric suddenly had a painful attack of migraine in his head. Before Natalia could asked whether he was okay or not, he said he was fine. He got up after a few minutes and then they went back to the lab so they could first find out whose blood it is before accusing a famous actor of murder.

Eric was able to match the blood on the shirt with Faith's. The other DNA belonged to David, which you could say is obvious but this also means he can't say someone else wore his shirt. Tripp went and picked up Conley who was immediately joined by his lawyer.  
"I got news for you. We found…" Suddenly Eric was struck by heavy pain in his head again which made it difficult for him to finish his sentence. Quickly Natalia took over the interrogation but the damage was done…  
"Wait a minute" David said in a self assured tone "I know you, you're that CSI, the one that got shot a few months ago. In the head right. Yes I remember that. You know what I think this interview is over." David was about to get up when he was ordered to stay put by Natalia. She told David and his big shot lawyer the evidence they've gathered and how it all pointed in his direction. He would hang for the murder of the upcoming model. Unfortunately David's lawyer was able to get him free and later that day the message came that the evidence gathered by Eric would be inadmissible. The reason? His current medical condition. Hearing the news Eric was furious and stormed out. This wasn't the first sometime someone tried this but it was definitely the first time some Judge allowed it.

Natalia went looking for Eric, she had noticed how upset he was, but instead of finding him she stumbled into Calleigh. "Have you seen Eric?" Calleigh said no and asked whether there was something wrong or if something had happened. Natalia explained the whole situation. Eric had gathered some incriminated evidence that pointed in the direction of the famous actor David Conley but his lawyer made the evidence useless. Calleigh didn't understand why because Eric was cleared for work until she learned about the pain attacks he has had all morning.  
"I'll look for Eric. You try to catch the killer in another way. Okay?" Natalia nodded, walked away looking for Ryan because she could use all the help she could get.  
After looking almost everywhere there was only one place left she could look. Slowly she opened the door of the locker room and saw Eric, sitting on a bench.  
"Hey" She said in a soft caring voice, he said hey back and she sat down next to him. "You okay?" Then she noticed the broken mirror and asked him what happened. "I…I.." That was all he could say while he shook his head. "Show me your hand." She let one hand rest on his leg and the other open so she could take his in hers. Eric's hand was covered in blood after he had hit the mirror. Before that he had been looking in it and thinking about himself. How different he was and how much he hated that different person, that person starring back at him in the mirror so he smashed it. Finally he broke the silence. "I'm fine Calleigh, I am. I appreciate it but really I'm okay" He stood up straight and had this look in his eyes. A look of hate, a look Calleigh had never seen before.  
"Talk to me Eric, please." Calleigh desperately wanted to help him. She stood next to him, carefully taking his wounded hand in hers, looking at it and whispering "Eric." Tears were filling up her eyes. She felt so sorry for him. He had changed so much but he was still her partner, her best friend, even more. She cared so much for him and hated to see him in so much. She though he coped very well with everything that has happened to him in the last years. First Speedle, then his sister getting cancer, curing only to get shot and killed. Him getting shot, all major events, too much for only one person to have to deal with in a lifetime. Still with his therapy and being back on the job he seemed to be doing well. He seemed to deal with it. However being questioned in every case, wondering if you made a mistake or not, doubting about everything you do, every piece of evidence you touch being challenged… it finally took his toll on him.  
Calleigh's hand in his made him calm down. It felt reassuring. After a few minutes he looked at her, smiled and said okay. She nodded although she didn't believe him and watched him walk away. She couldn't fight the tears anymore and let them roll down her cheek as she picked up the pieces of the broken mirror.

On his way out Eric ran into Jake. Eric apologize to him for what happened that morning. Jake was completely surprised by his apology but returned the favor admitting he didn't check the upper floor properly and that he was also sorry for that and for the fact that he was taken off the case and his evidence was inadmissible.

That evening a doorbell rang…yet again…


End file.
